We have seen several posts and articles covering opening P & M. Most of the comments make it appear the majority are against the idea. Here is some more data and a comparison of P & M to a busy intersection in Toronto open to pedestrians at street level plus a point from Brodbeck that I had not heard yet.

Opening an important intersection in a City Center to street level pedestrian crossing can be beneficial in some cases and there is many examples around the world were this has worked. None of them I have ever seen have the number of lanes and volume of traffic including transit at peak times as P & M. Not many large cities have a wagon wheel design with no freeways through it which is part of the problem. All the ones I have seen that were as busy and large have been closed to pedestrians and overhead or underground crossings provided.

Experts have said the study Bowman and his supporters on City Council commissioned with funds diverted from road renewal is flawed and worthy of a formal complaint to EGM. Bowman also denied access to the initial report except EPC members. Some Councillors had to file FIPPA requests. What were and are they trying to hide?

Here is the latest traffic flow map with average weeday daily traffic but is from 2015 and more recent traffic counts are only available if paying 😦 If I read it correctly even in 2015 there was a weekday DAILY average of at least 85k vehicles entering P & M.

As an example here is the busiest intersection in Toronto for street level pedestrian crossings. Yonge and Dundas has up to 90-100k pedestrians in 24 hrs and Yonge had average of 50k vehicles per WEEK. It only has 8 lanes entering. Larger and busier intersections have over head and underground crossings. Based on this P & M has much higher volume of vehicle traffic, is much larger and will have no where near this many pedestrians until the Jets or Bombers win a cup.

Many agree something needs to be done with the crumbling barricades and possibly the structure underneath plus improvements to access the current underground crossings and shopping for those walking or with accessibility needs.

This along with other facts that have been shared paint a pretty clear picture. If there is important facts we are missing we look forward to hearing them.

Here is what Tom Brodbeck had to say on Twitter:

“When downtown boosters want tax dollars to invest in the heart of the city, it’s “everyone’s” downtown. But when there’s a referendum on something affecting the downtown, then it’s not